Title: Gold Rush
Pairing: CaptainAmerica-WinterSoldier-FemaleOC (poly)
AU story because Steve came back after returning the stones, meaning he is still Captain America and Tony is still alive. And Natasha is also still alive. When I started writting this story I had meant for it to happen after Endgame, but I completly forgot she didn't make it. I only realized that after a few weeks.
First language isn't English, so please point out spelling or grammer mistakes. Be specific when pointing them out so I can correct them.
Feedback is always welcome.
Chapter 3
"Hold the elevator!" I yelled and hoped someone would hold the doors for me. I was running late with Miss Pots dresses she needed for tonight. This week has been rather crazy with the benefit two day's ago and a surprise invite for the opening of a Children's hospital downtown tonight. I had expected the invite weeks ago, but I guess it must have gotten lost in the mail or something. None the less the Starks would never turn down an invite like this because it's good publicity. When I arrived at the office this morning it was absolute chaos and by noon I handed my boss a pill to calm down. The evil twins had been busy all day with finding out everything about the hospital and the people miss Pots and mister Stark would meet tonight. They would join them and make sure they knew who they were talking to. A job I am very grateful I don't get asked a lot to do, because it is exhausting and very stressful. I should have arrived at the office two hours ago, but there had been a screw up at the boutique and then I had been stuck in traffic. And these dresses and accessories are too big and expensive to walk around with on the streets of New York City. I called Happy but there had been a security issue so he was unavailable.
My luck seemed to turn for someone heard me calling out and held the elevator door for me. I ran in and thanked them out of breath. Damn I should start exercising again because my physical condition wasn't all that great. I used to go jogging in Central Park with a friend from university who also lives in the city, Tessa, but we were masters in coming up with excuses to stay in and eventually just gave up on the idea of working out.
"Where too miss?" the man asked me and I took a few deep breaths and looked up to the man who helped me and I froze for a second, but managed to hide it quickly. I was standing in a very small closed space with none other than the Winter Soldier. I wasn't stupid, I know who the man is and what he has done so I was a little nervous to be standing with him in an elevator, alone.
"Miss Pots office please," I said and tried to catch my breath from running and push away the nervous feelings that were forming in my stomach. I shouldn't be nervous around this man, especially not when we are in mister Starks building. Friday sees everything and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't try anything with such heavy security. Oh God listen to me even thinking about it. This is ridiculous. He is just a man, so treat him as one and be polite.
"Same as me then," the man said and the elevator doors closed and started going up. We didn't say anything and I prayed we would reach miss Pots office soon because the dresses and bags were getting very heavy. I feel like I should say something to him but what do you say to a man like him? Had any interesting missions? Went clubbing lately? The idea of him and the Captain going clubbing almost made me laugh out loud, but I managed to control myself.
After a minute of awkward silence the man turned to me and surprised me: "Correct me if I am wrong, but those packages you are carrying seem heavy. Do you need a hand as we are heading in the same direction?"
I was taken back by his suggestion. People never look twice at me because I'm just a lousy assistant. Always a profession people like to look down on, no matter who you work for. And from what I learned about this man from the five times I have seen him at the office he is very quiet and doesn't like to mingle with other people. Yet here he is offering to help me carry a bunch of expensive dresses.
"That would actually be very helpful. They are indeed quite heavy," I said and he took the hanger from me with a polite smile. I smiled back and for a second our eyes meet and I am surprised again that he has blue eyes. They remind me of the Captains a bit. They have the same intensity in them.
"I am guessing Miss Pots has a special thing she needs to dress up for tonight?" the man asked and I switched the bag I was carrying on my shoulder to my other shoulder. Who knew shoes and jewelry could be so heavy? I noticed my previous nerves were going away as the man tried to make small talk with me. Wait, he's actually trying to make small talk with me? The realization made me chuckle: "The opening of a new children's wing to a hospital downtown. It's main focus will be on mental health for children and teenagers."
"Steve mentioned something about that. Will you be attending as well?" the man asked and I was surprised the Captain knew about it. Maybe mister Stark asked him to join them. Wouldn't be the first time he asked the man to dress up for extra publicity.
"No, she will be attending with her other assistances," I said and wondered why he was on his way to meet my boss. Maybe it was because of Morgan. Miss Pots had thanked me when I warned her about Morgan's request and she was able to talk to her boyfriend before Morgan dropped that bomb. Her boyfriend, still weird they aren't married. They got engaged before the blip but haven't gone through with it yet. I guess life is just too hectic for them to plan a wedding. My curiosity about why the man was on his way to see my boss got the better of me: "Can I be so rude to ask why you are on your way to see Miss Pots?"
"It seems I have been invited to a certain someone's birthday party, but I don't think it would be in good taste and I have a feeling she wants to see me about that," the man explained and I notted. So it is about Morgan's party. He turned to me suddenly and offered me his free hand. It was his real one, the robot arm was holding the dresses seemingly casually over his shoulder: "My name is James by the way."
I starred at his hand for a couple of seconds, taken aback by the fact he was actually introducing himself to me and he was doing it in such an old fashioned way by holding out his hand. Who does that these days? He was beginning to lower his hand again and it snapped me out of my thoughts. I reached out quickly and shook his hand with a smile: "Alexandra, but Alex is good enough."
He gave me a smile as we shook hands. I could tell he was being very careful with his hand for his grip was rather lose. In my job I learned you can learn a lot about a man when you shake his hand, but this guy was throwing me of. He must have a lot of extra power and he is making sure he doesn't hurt me.
"I tried to get Morgan to forget about it, but I doubt she will and knowing her she will get her parents to give in," I said and tried to continue the small talk we were having. He seems like a nice guy, if you can forget who he actually is and about his history. And I'm sure if he got a haircut he would look a lot less intimidating.
"And why would she want to invite me to her birthday party?" James asked and I noticed he was rather easy to talk to. Much easier than the Captain. More casual and less forced politeness.
"She also insisted on inviting a witch and a giant ant so don't let it go to your head," I pointed out and he raised an eyebrow at me. The look he gave me made me chuckle: "You're weird, she likes that." He smiled slightly at my comment and I notice we are almost at miss Pots' office: "Although as party planner I have to insist that you get a haircut."
"And why's that?" James askes and he pushes his free hand in his pocket when he sees we are almost at our destination. I wonder why he does that? I mean everyone knows that the Winter Soldier has a robot arm, so why hide it? I remembered a line from Game of Thrones said by Tyrion Lannister: 'Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you'. Might be good advice for a man like the Winter Soldier. The world will never forget what he has done. It made me feel sorry for him so I decided I wouldn't be one of those people: "Because you look like something I don't want to run into at night and it is a child's birthday party, so let's try and make you appear friendly."
The elevator doors open and I walk out to miss Pots' office. I hear the man chuckle behind me and I couldn't help but think he should laugh more often. It sounds good coming from him. He catches up to me quickly and can easily keep up with my fast pass: "Only if you help me with getting the kid a gift. If I have to make an excuse to the kid why I can't come, I can at least give her a present."
I knocked on miss Pots door and turned to the man before entering: "For some reason I am tempted to say no and let you fend for yourself just to see with what you would give her, but since you did carry these dresses for me I'll go easy on you."
He sent me a smirk and if I wasn't about to walk into my boss her office I might have blushed at the look he gave me.
"Although it would be an interesting experiment," I said and opened the doors. As I expected the office was in a state of chaos. Thalia and Camille were sitting behind miss Pots desk making note cards for the bosses. They were so busy they didn't even look up. Miss Pots was arguing with the hair dresser, probably about what was taking so long.
"Alex, what took you so long?" Miss Pots was slightly hysterical. She kind of loses her cool easily in private when something happens to her always tight schedule. Mister Stark is much better at handling such things, although he is usually the one to mess up the schedule.
"I know, I'm sorry so let's keep this short. I know you want to see every one of these dresses, but you are going to end up picking the green one," I said and put down the bags I was carrying and took the dress I meant from James. He raised an eyebrow at me as I only took one dress. I smirked back and held out the dress for my boss to inspect: "You will look stunning in this and you will accessory with the Dolce and Gabbana silver heels and the Dior necklace and earrings. So how about we just skip to that part as you are already running late?"
Miss Pots inspected the dress for maybe five seconds before caving in: "You're probably right. Did you also remember to pick up my ring from…"
"Yes, I put it in the box with the earrings I mentioned and I ran into mister Stark and he asked me to give you this card," I said and pulled out a small envelope from my purse and handed it to her. A part of my job that only mister Stark is aware of is that I help him out every now and then with giving his girlfriend surprise gifts or cards with some lovely words on them. So I stopped by his lab this morning and made him write down some nice words because miss Pots would be stressed all day and something like this would ease her mind no doubt. I especially like it when I get to go buy the woman jewelry with mister Starks credit card.
Miss Pots takes the card and waves us to follow her: "Before I give myself to them, I wanted to speak with the both of you about Saturday."
I point to the couch where James put down the dresses that won't be needed anymore and we follow my boss to the balcony attached to her office, away from the entourage waiting to get her ready for the gala. When we walk past her desk, the evil twins look up and I can see they are very surprised to see who was walking next to me.
"As I am sure you already heard that Morgan invited you to her birthday party and she made some compelling comments as why to invite you and …" miss Pots started explaining and I couldn't help but pretend to cough: "A.k.a. she laid the guilt on so thick the two of you caved."
I caught James smirking at me and I sent him a playful wink. Miss Pots gave me a look that said guilty but not amused by my smart ass remark: "Basically, so I suggest that we do our best to keep you and Tony way from each other during it."
Miss Pots asked as politely as possible, but James didn't seem to mind. He notted in understanding and before he could say anything I asked: "So I guess it's my job to shush him whenever mister Stark gets to close?"
Miss Pots smiles apologetically to me and James and the man says he could just say he has a mission that day. It would be the perfect excuse but knowing Morgan she would never believe it. Miss pots agreed with me: "No, she'll know. She already said that it was no excuse. Apparently the world would just have to take a break that day from falling apart. When her party is done, it can all go back to hell."
"Sounds like something Morgan would say," I said and James smiled: "I'll do my best to stay out of sight."
"Thank you," Miss Pots said and gave him one more apologetic smile: "And Alex about tomorrow, Happy will pick you up at eight and drive you."
"Eight?" I said with more whine to my tone then I intended to. Tessa had begged me yesterday to go out with her and her roommate and two other friends of theirs. I didn't want to go because I knew Saturday would be a long day and going out with Tessa always meant it would be a late night. Miss Pots picked up on my tone and gave me a look asking for an explanation.
"I'm going out with my friends tonight to that new club opening…," I explained and Miss Pots quickly added: "You mean that exclusive club where I got an invite too?"
"And that you so graciously gave to me?" I asked and she gave me a knowing smile. She gets so many invites that she hands them out to her staff sometimes. Another lovely perk of working for her and mister Stark: "Anyway eight is fine."
"Don't party to hard," miss Pots told me with a playful smile and I rolled my eyes dramatically at her: "Yes mother. Now we will leave you be and I will go spent some of your money for your daughters presents."
"Thank you," miss Potts called after me as I pushed James in front of me and back to the elevator. I was glad I wasn't needed to stay at the office for the rest of the day because I never liked this kind of chaos, the type where I don't know what to do and have to constantly ask for work. When we organize an event my job is very clear and I like that. I know how to be useful. Thalia and Camille would stick by miss Pots side for the rest of the day and evening, so I could focus on picking up the last of the presents for Morgan.
"So about that experiment you were talking about earlier…" James began once the doors of the elevator were closed and we were on our way down. I smirked playfully at him and he chuckled when I spoke: "Admit it, it would be a funny experiment. I could just picture you in a toy stores, completely lost."
"And here I thought you were a nice lady," James got back at me and I pulled out my phone from my purse to check the time. Five-thirty, doesn't give me much time to reach the toy store and get everything I needed for the kid: "Don't let the suite fool you."
"I'll remember that ma'am," he said and I figured that was it. We would split once we reached the lobby, but the soldier surprised me again. He's kind of full of surprises, isn't he?
"Maybe I should join you so you don't pick something out for me that will embarrass me," he said with a playful smile hanging on his lips. I looked at him surprised and a bit taken aback. He noticed and tried to wave it of: "Or I'll just take my changes with you and…"
"Do you have a car?" I interrupted him and found it intriguing he would ask to join me to go shopping in a toy store. He's kind of different than most guy's that chat me up in a bar or a shop. He looked surprised at me and notted slowly. I could buy that teddy bear I promised Morgan if he had a car. I could never take it with me on a subway and I'm pretty sure most cab drivers wouldn't take me home either. I pictured the man walking out of the store with the bear I was planning on buying and it made me laugh. James looked at me curious and when I calmed down I said: "Oh, you're going to regret that, but you know what, I'll take you up on that offer Sergeant."
"Somehow I doubt that," James said and he pushed the button to the basement where his car was parked. He walked me to his car, what turned out to be the Captains car and opened the door for me. These guy's must be the last one's left with general chivalry left inside them.
…
The car ride was comfortable. She was easy to talk to and had a snarky and playful side. She talked about her day, work, her boss, the party of tomorrow and I listened, asking appropriate questions when needed. She appeared to be calm and at ease what surprised me. Then again I didn't think she would accept my offer. It came out without much thought and when I saw her face I regretted it immediately. What woman in their right mind would agree to getting into a car with me, alone? And yet she accepted and there wasn't any negativity in her voice or composure. In fact she seemed to like the idea of me tagging along for some reason. There was also something very right about her calling me Sergeant. If my feelings hadn't been so numbed for so long I might have noticed a warm feeling spreading in my stomach when she called me that.
While I drove to the toy store she wanted to go to, I caught the two stars Steve had mentioned behind her ear when she pulled her hair up. Maybe he was right. I only saw glances of them but they did appear to be very similar to Steve's mark and the one I used to have. And I didn't feel comfortable around many people, in fact only Steve and Sam, when he wasn't being a pain in my ass. But talking to her was…easy…comfortable. I wondered if this was what it felt like back in the day when I flirted with women.
"I called ahead to the shop and told them I was coming by for Morgan Stark. They'll probably be holding a parking spot for me," she said when we were almost at the store. She rolled down the window and waved at some man, who was dressed in a shop uniform. He was the doorman and was indeed holding a parking space free for her. She turned to me with a smirk: "Working for the Starks does have its perks sometimes."
"Apparently," I said and parked the car. The doorman opened the door for her and she stepped out gracefully. The man seemed to know her and he greeted her politely as he walked her to the door. I pulled my phone out and discreetly took a picture of her while she made small talk with the man and sent it to Steve. He texted back immediately.
'Jumping on the first opportunity huh?'
'Snooze you lose punk.'
I texted him the address knowing he would like to randomly show up now that I was with her. He was annoyingly chipper when he got home yesterday and I found out he drove her home. Sine I had moved into his apartment, without him asking me, I hadn't seen him show any interest in women and I wondered why that was. Clearly women liked to throw themselves at him, but he always politely kept them at bay. But he was rather uncharacteristic happy since he found out she might be our soulmate, which I'm not saying she is.
"Hey Serge! Keep up!" she called to me and I followed her into the store. It was three stories high and everywhere I looked where toy's. I looked around the store and was amazed by all the items there were on display. Barely any of the toy's made any sense to me and I didn't recognize any of it. What happened to the toy's we played with back in the day?
A saleswoman walked with her and wrote down what she wanted. How many toy's is she buying for this kid? I kept my eyes aimed at the floor and followed her while she made her way through the store. I listened to her and noticed she was very businesslike. She didn't waste time or ask any polite but useless questions. She took charge and I could appreciate that in a woman.
"Hey Sergeant, what do you think?" she pulled me from my thoughts after ten minutes and we stopped at the stuffed animal corner. There was a bear sitting that was twice her size. I looked at her and she had a very bright smile hanging on her red lips: "Big enough for the kid?"
"Eum, maybe a bit much?" I respond but she doesn't agree. She waved to a salesgirl to help her and said very nonchalantly: "Nonsense! The bigger the bear, the better. Last year's bear didn't annoy her parents enough apparently. We have to up our game this year."
"And why is that?" I ask but she turns to the salesgirl and tells her she wants the bear. The salesgirl calls a couple of colleges to carry the bear to the front of the store for her.
"It's a game Morgan and I play. She hopes that one day we'll get a present that will annoy her parents so much, they'll start buying her presents themselves," she explained to me and hooked her arm threw mine. I froze slightly by her sudden intimate contact and realized she had hooked her arm around my vibranium arm.
"Now Sergeant, what do you think will be an appropriate toy for an eight year old girl?" she asked me and pulled me with her. She waved the salesgirl away, apparently done giving her all her orders and she walked with me around the store. I chuckled having no idea what an eight year old girl might like. A doll maybe?
"I'll give you a hint, Morgan likes building things. Shocker, I know. I wonder where she gets that from," she joked and I remember seeing two boy's earlier sitting at round table. They were putting small pieces on top of each other and what seemed like a plane of some sort. I walked her to where I had seen the boy's, who were gone and she smiled: "Very well done Sergeant. Lego's are a timeless gift as they have been around since the 30's and Morgan likes the Harry Potter collection a lot. Now I won't bore you with the details about who Harry Potter is…"
"Isn't he that boy wizard?" I said and remembered Sam's nephews explaining me the story. It was about wizards and a school and a bad guy who reminded me of Hitler. I felt her arm tense up immediately and I thought I had said something wrong and looked worried at her, but her words calmed me down quickly: "You know who Harry Potter is?"
She sounded so surprised and looked at me with big eyes. I didn't understand why it was a big deal but judging by her expression it was: "He's that boy wizard who goes to some wizard school and they have these houses with colors and the bad guy is basically Hitler."
"Are you serious? How do you know that?" she asked me and her mouth felt wide open.
"A colleagues nephews told me about it. Made me watch a movie about it but I didn't understand much of it," I explained and she composed herself again and pulled me with her to a shelve that had the sets from the Harry Potter story. They were scenes from the story but they didn't make much sense to me.
"What happened in the movie?" she asked me and pulled some boxes from the shelve. I tried to remember the movie but the boy's had been talking so much that it was hard to pay attention to what was actually happening. I got that the story was about the boy named Harry Potter and he his two friends, whose names I don't remember: "There was a werewolf in it. Looked nothing like what I imagined a werewolf would look like."
"It was the Prisoner of Azkaban then, my favorite book along with the forth one," she said and shook her head. She muttered to herself but I picked it up none the less: "I can't believe the Winter Soldiers knows who Harry Potter is, that's so weird."
"Why?" I asked and she looked confused at me: "Why is it weird that I know who he is?"
"My generation grew up on the story of Harry Potter. It's a children's book, but as Harry grew older his story matured likewise. I screwed up my SAT's to read the last book," she told me and I couldn't imagine a story being that important in someone's life.
"If you ask 100 people on the street if they know who Harry Potter is, 98 will say they do. His story is that famous. He's like one of those characters everyone knows even if they don't know the whole story, like Luke Skywalker and Bilbo Baggings," she explained and I could tell the story meant a lot to her. Her eyes light up as she spoke and she had this small smile hanging on her lips. She looked at me, no reservation or a hint of fear or something. Just friendly, excited eyes looking at me and I realized her eyes were green with a hint of blue in them. And her red lips made her green eyes stand out more.
"And you're, well you're you so it's very surprising to hear you know who he is," she finished and I notted slowly. 'You are you', she didn't act like she didn't know who I am and she didn't sugarcoat it either. I wasn't sure how I should feel about that but for some reason I found it comforting. I followed her as we made our way to the check out. I let my eyes wander over her frame as she walked in front of me. She was tall for a woman and had a lean built. She didn't look like she worked out much and her hair came midway her neck. I noticed she ran her fingers through them a lot, especially at the back. She must have gotten it cut recently and isn't used to the difference yet. My eyes found the two stars again as she talked to the salesgirl, who was wrapping all the gifts. Could it really be? Could our soulmate really live in this time and not in our own? Could it really be this woman who works for the Starks and likes this Harry Potter character and has green eyes and likes to wear red lipstick?
"How much are you buying for this kid?" I asked when I saw all the gifts wrapped and ready to be brought to Steve's car. She paid for the toy's and the number made my head spin. I remember Steve and me being happy if we had five bucks to spend on something. Times have really changed.
"I buy most of the gifts because people always find it difficult to buy something for her. I know what she likes to play with and what books that will interest her," she said and put away her wallet and handed me a bag with two gifts in it: "You will give her this one and the other one is the Captain's present. I also added a birthday card, so don't forget it sign it and make sure the Captain signs as well."
"You can tell him yourself, he's meeting us outside. I'm giving him a ride to a friend's place afterwards," I mentioned casually and helped carry the bags to the car. We were the last customers in the shop. They must have kept the shop open longer for her, knowing she would spend enough money to make it worth their while. The doorman opened the door for us.
"So Robo-man has friends other than his Captain buddy?" she asked with only slight mockery in her voice when she referred to me as Robo-man.
"Why do you sound so surprised? I'm a nice guy?" I tried to pull off but she started laughing as soon as I said it: "Yeah, I bet. Have you looked at yourself lately? You look like a homeless person."
"You know you are the second person to point out I need a haircut for this kids party. I didn't know there would be a dress code," I said and pulled out the keys to open the car.
"She actually asked for you all to suite up, so be grateful I managed to talk her out of that," she said and I saw Steve leaning against his car like the punk he is. I barrow it whenever he doesn't need it.
"Get of my car, you punk," I told him and he that stupid golden smile of his. I tended not to look at it for too long.
"It's my car you jerk," he got back at me and he pushed himself of the car and held out his hand to Alex. Sometimes he surprised me by how smooth he could be: "Need a hand ma'am?"
"I'm pretty sure you'll regret offering your help," she said and I knew what she meant by that, but let her have her fun. Steve didn't understand and I pushed the bags I was carrying in his hands before she could: "Here you go." I went back in the store to get the last gift and could hear Steve ask where I was going.
"Oh he's getting my gift," Alex said casually and laughed when she saw me walking out with the damn thing. Man it was big. Is it even going to fit in Steve's car?
"A bit much, don't you think?" Steve asked and helped me push the thing in the backseat because it wouldn't fit in the truck with the other gifts.
"Nope, just the perfect size to annoy her parents," she said smugly as I closed the trunk of the car.
"I really like shopping with rich people's money," she sighed dramatically and wanted to get in on the passenger side when Steve stopped her playfully: "I think you would make a better fit with Maximus in the back."
"I was here first you muggle," she said and sat down allowing him to close the door. We both laughed when he got in the back of the car, clearly struggling: "How am I the one sitting in the back in my own car?"
"Oh don't pout Captain, it doesn't suite you. Now smile for me," she said with a playful tone and lifted her phone. She took a picture of Steve in the backseat with the bear and sent it to Starks daughter with a smile on her lips.
"That kid has a phone?" I asked surprised by this fact. She texted something else to the kid and said: "She's the daughter of a high tech genius billionaire. She has every gadget in the book."
"Could you maybe put your seat up a little?" Steve asked and she turned her head. My eyes met hers and I shook my head at her. It reminded me of when I asked Sam to move his seat back in Germany. She smirked at Steve: "Nope."
…
"This is me," she pointed to the apartment building she lived in. It was an old brownstone with stairs that lead to the front door. It probably had four or five apartments, depending on the size they had.
"Do you need any help with carrying everything upstairs?" Steve asked, but she shook her head: "That's alright, I'll manage, but I'm leaving Maximus with you boy's."
"What? Why?" Steve asked and I wanted to get out to help her but she pulled her purse over her shoulder and opened the door herself: "Because I don't own a car so be on time Saturday."
"You mean I'm stuck with this thing until tomorrow? What will people think if they see it laying on my backseat?" Steve asks and she smiles. She looked good when she smiled and there was something sexy about her playfulness: "Told you you would regret it. Thanks for the ride boy's."
"So I'm guessing you need a ride tomorrow?" Steve asked and got out to sit in the front. I noticed she reached just above his shoulder. She had to look up to speak to him: "I'm leaving early to get their place upstate ready. Happy will be picking me up in the morning."
"You owe me for this thought," Steve said and pointed at the ridiculous big bear behind me.
"Not really, I did warn you," she said and walked up the steps: "Have a nice evening gentlemen."
"You know we are just heading over to a friend's place for drinks and pizza. You are welcome to join us," I tried but she didn't take the bait: "No thanks, enjoy boy's night."
"Smooth," Steve told me when she was inside her building and he pulled out on the street: "I told you she's the one."
"Shut up you punk, we'll see about that," I said and drove us to Sam's place hoping he wouldn't see the bear because he would never let us forget it.
